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Buying Emotion

Right before the New Year, J and I had a long conversation about kindness to oneself. Comes a time in a person's life when they no longer need to perform for the happiness of other - it could be argued when a child does well at school and is generally well-behaved, they are doing so to make their parent happy. They may not care much for either their grades or their pleasant manners. 

If anything they might wish to take it easy with school work and be a rabble-rousing trouble-maker outside. They do neither so their parent maybe happy with them. But that age passes at some point and then the person lives their own life, tries to achieve happiness and fulfillment by their own measures. At least, such is what I hope with be the case with J. She did not disagree but posed a challenge for me by asking what have I ever done for myself that was solely for my pleasure. 

I cited a few things but in each example, others were an integral part. Her next question was what is the most expensive thing I bought for myself that did not fulfill any real need. I fell short on this one too being a fairly frugal person. J gave me a challenge to complete in a month - to buy something for a number well beyond my comfort zone that would be just for me and not be useful. She was basically telling me to walk the talk - live my life for me not perform for the happiness of others.

I did deliver on what she asked and made a purchase that is completely uncharacteristic of me. If the retailer studied my buyer journey they would have not seen any signals of my intent until this conversation happened and the buying decision was entirely driven by emotion. I felt it was an act of setting me and my kid free in different ways. Reading this article about the role of emotion in the buying process reminded me of my own recent experience which absolutely did not follow any linear path. 

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